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Tightrope: Defining success, wealth, happiness

Recently I was talking to a woman who has been in the floral business for the last 20 years. She said that she felt success had passed her by. She said that she had believed her business would have made her

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Recently I was talking to a woman who has been in the floral business the last 20 years. She said that she felt success had passed her by. She said that she had believed her business would have made her a millionaire by now. I asked her if her business was generating enough money to meet all of her expenses. She agreed that it did, and she had some money left over for savings and a few extras. But the problem was she had hoped she would have millions of dollars in the bank by now.

There are many different ways to determine what success means. And it means different things to different people. I would certainly consider the above-mentioned woman to be successful. Yet I also agree that success does not always have to be determined by how much money can be stockpiled in the bank account.

Last week I had lunch with Chris Rodell, a longtime friend and entrepreneur. Like many of us he longed for more flexibility in his work schedule and still be able to make money. With that in mind Chris left his day job as a writer for a local newspaper to start his own freelance writing business.

Chris describes his work by saying he is a freelance writer who has been published by many of the greatest publications in America and been rejected by the rest.

His work has appeared in Esquire, The National Enquirer, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, People and more.

While Chris and I were eating lunch and sharing stories he told me about his road to success as he sees it.

Chris told me that for many years people considered him a young promising writer. He said that when he turned 45, he felt that he was no longer young and any promise he may have had seemed to have disappeared. He said that in spite of the fact he had not achieved financial wealth he was an extremely happy man.

He said that he was somewhat surprised at just how happy he was. He realized that having two beautiful daughters, and a loving wife and good friends who helped to fill his life with laughter was one thing. But where else was all of the happiness feeling coming from?

Chris said he wrote a list of the things in his life that made him laugh and feel happy. He recalled all of the little pranks he'd play with his family. He said, "One day I overheard my daughter and her friends asking each other what their daddies did. One's was a doctor, one fixed cars, one built houses. What did my daughter say her daddy does. 'He plays with me.'"

Chris said that was a "Eureka!" moment.

"I wasn't finding happiness in professional achievement -- even though I had that. I was finding happiness in mining all the little joys available."

Chris said that he recognized that there are too many people who put more focus on money and less on their happiness.

With happiness on his mind and his list in hand Chris wrote a book titled Use All the Crayons!: The Colorful Guide to Simple Human Happiness.

The book has 501 suggestions on how to lead a more colorful life. Because Chris wants to do his part to make the world a happier place he has made his book available for free. All you have to do is contact him at www.useallthecrayons.com.

My best guess is there are quite a few entrepreneurs out there that can use a dose of happiness.